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FSF responds to Oracle v. Google and the threat of software patents

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FSF responds to Oracle v. Google and the threat of software patents

by
brett
Contributions
—
Published on
Sep 08, 2010 12:07 PM

As you likely heard on any number of news sites, Oracle has filed suit
against Google, claiming that Android infringes some of its Java-related copyrights and patents.
Too little information is available
about the copyright infringement claim to say much about it yet; we
expect we'll learn more as the case proceeds. But nobody deserves to
be the victim of software patent aggression, and Oracle is wrong to
use its patents to attack Android.

Though it took longer than we would've liked, Sun Microsystems
ultimately did the right thing by the free software community when it
released Java under the GPL in 2006. We welcomed that news when it
was announced; Java had long been a popular programming language, and
we were hopeful that the change would make it a language with
first-class support in the free software community.

Now Oracle's lawsuit threatens to undo all the good will that has been
built up in the years since. Programmers will justifiably steer clear
of Java when they stand to be sued if they use it in some way that
Oracle doesn't like. One of the great benefits of free software is
that it allows programs to be combined in ways that none of the
original developers would've anticipated, to create something new and
exciting. Oracle is signaling to the world that they intend to limit
everyone's ability to do this with Java, and that's unjustifiable.

Unfortunately, Google didn't seem particularly concerned about this
problem until after the suit was filed. The company still has not
taken any clear position or action against software
patents. And they could have avoided all this by building
Android on top of IcedTea, a GPL-covered Java implementation based
on Sun's original code, instead of an independent implementation under
the Apache License. The GPL is designed to protect everyone's
freedom—from each individual user up to the largest
corporations—and it could've provided a strong defense against
Oracle's attacks. It's sad to see that Google apparently shunned
those protections in order to make proprietary software development
easier on Android.

But none of that excuses Oracle's behavior. An aggressive
infringement suit over software patents is a clear attack against
someone's freedom to use, share, modify, and redistribute
software—freedoms that everyone should always have. Oracle now
seeks to take these rights away, not just from Google, but from all
Android users.

Ultimately, the decision about how to respond rests primarily with
Google; they're the party named as the defendant in the suit. The FSF
encourages Google to fight Oracle's claims, and take a principled
stand against all software patents.

How you can help:

We are collecting information about the case, including information
about prior art that could be used to attack the patents, on the
End Software Patents wiki. This could be useful not only
for Google's case, but also for other parties that Oracle might sue
in the future. If you have new information to add to that page,
we'd be happy to have your contribution.

Oracle was previously opposed to software patents. That the
company is now using patents as its primary weapon to attack competitors
is a stunning reversal of that position. Write to Larry
Ellison and respectfully ask him why Oracle is attacking free
software with software patents. You can remind him about the statements
Oracle made in 1994, like this one:

Patent law provides to inventors an exclusive right to new
technology in return for publication of the technology. This is
not appropriate for industries such as software development in
which innovations occur rapidly, can be made without a substantial
capital investment, and tend to be creative combinations of
previously-known techniques.

Oracle once claimed that it only sought software patents for defensive
purposes. Now it is using them to proactively attack free software.
It's not the first company to make this about-face, and unfortunately
it probably won't be the last. Today Google claims they need software
patents for defensive purposes, but the reality is that programmers
will only truly be safe from software patents when everybody is forced
to disarm. Join the End Software Patents mailing list to keep
up-to-date on software patent news and what you can do to help.